# The Trump Administration: A Clusterfuck in the Making **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 7, 2016, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070 "2016-12-07T00:25:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2199
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43967 "2020-06-01T05:52:56Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I don’t know the federal law myself, but CNN just moments ago as well as earlier today confirmed the federal government does NOT have the authority to label a domestic group as a terrorist organization like it can a foreign entity. Not even through Twitter? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43968 "2020-06-01T06:00:36Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Not even through Twitter? Well, Twitter is different. They’re the modern-day letters of transit mentioned in _Casablanca_, a magical silver bullet that Chump can use to negate any pesky law he may hit against. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43969 "2020-06-01T12:46:03Z")
> [@Eva\_Luna](#): > > Not me. I hope he’s not naked, because I don’t want to see the inevitable footage of that…spectacle. Just don’t squint, you should be fine. I too would never have hope of such a thing happening. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43970 "2020-06-01T14:41:17Z")
Jesus wept. **[Trump privately scolded, warned by allies](http://https://www.axios.com/trump-protests-riots-4ab7f1e1-1498-433b-8b80-cedf3cc1ae96.html)** > [@](#): > > Over the past couple of days, numerous advisers both inside and outside the White House have urged the president to tone down his violent rhetoric, which many worry could escalate racial tensions and hurt him politically. > \*\* > Behind the scenes:\*\* The biggest source of internal concern was Trump’s escalatory tweet, “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” Some advisers said it could damage him severely with independent voters and suburban women. > > After not going to sleep until the early hours of Friday morning, President Trump woke to a string of conversations with advisers who told him he had a problem. > … > > \*\*Between the lines: \*\*Even aides who usually laugh or shrug their shoulders at Trump’s more outrageous tweets considered this one a problem. Some said they saw direct political implications. > > ``` > [ul] > > ``` > > [li]People close to the president, including several senior White House officials, have privately expressed concerns that his incendiary response to the Minneapolis riots will hurt him with two groups that could remove him from office in November: independents and suburban women. These are groups who already tell pollsters they don’t like Trump’s tone, even if they like some of his policies.[/li][/ul] > … (Bold and formatting in original. Underlining is mine.) And it’s always, ever, and only about the election. Not about compassion, rationality, “doing the right thing,” “being the right leader,” bringing people together, preventing more violence… None of that. Pissing off voters. Keeping voters happy. Making sure that even voters who are disgusted with him personally will **vote for him.** Pardon me while I throw up. It’s. About. Getting. Him. Re-Elected. That’s it. God help this country if that happens. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43971 "2020-06-01T14:42:25Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Antifa isn’t an _organization_, domestic or otherwise. Exactly. They’re just the go-to bogeyman for Fox News and their ilk. Trump will probably ban the New Black Panthers and arrest George Soros next. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43972 "2020-06-01T15:06:32Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > [Trump was briefly taken to his Bunker as protests raged in DC](https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/31/politics/trump-underground-bunker-white-house-protests/index.html) > > I’m hoping that his Bunker was appropriately supplied, and that he took Eva Braun with him. Do you suppose that maybe – just maybe – he’ll think, “This shit got real,” and realize his words have consequences? And while you’re at it, do you suppose monkeys will fly out of my butt? ---
**Author:** ![Fugazi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f08c70/32.png) [@Fugazi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fugazi)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43973 "2020-06-01T15:20:48Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > Do you suppose that maybe – just maybe – he’ll think, “This shit got real,” and realize his words have consequences? > > And while you’re at it, do you suppose monkeys will fly out of my butt? I’d be willing to bet large sums of cash the 2nd happens before the 1st. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43974 "2020-06-01T15:27:03Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > AOC retweeted that she was told by the FBI that US white supremacist groups are not charged with terrorism because US based groups can’t be designated as terrorists under federal law. So, is Antifa then a foreign “organization”? Well, of course they are. Have you never seen pictures of their mosquy-looking HQ in Benghazi? ---
**Author:** ![Win\_Place\_Show](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/win_place_show/32/13469_2.png) [@Win\_Place\_Show](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Win_Place_Show)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43975 "2020-06-01T16:40:58Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Jesus wept. > > **[Trump privately scolded, warned by allies](http://https://www.axios.com/trump-protests-riots-4ab7f1e1-1498-433b-8b80-cedf3cc1ae96.html)**(Bold and formatting in original. Underlining is mine.) > > And it’s always, ever, and only about the election. Not about compassion, rationality, “doing the right thing,” “being the right leader,” bringing people together, preventing more violence… None of that. Pissing off voters. Keeping voters happy. Making sure that even voters who are disgusted with him personally will **vote for him.** Pardon me while I throw up. > > It’s. About. Getting. Him. Re-Elected. > > That’s it. > > God help this country if that happens. ☹ Do you mind checking your link? I keep getting an error when I click on it, and I am dying to read the rest of that article! 🙂 ETA: Nevermind, I was able to do a “manual override” to get it to work, once I quoted your post. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43976 "2020-06-01T16:42:10Z")
> [@Win\_Place\_Show](#): > > Do you mind checking your link? I keep getting an error when I click on it, and I am dying to read the rest of that article! 🙂 [https://www.axios.com/trump-protests-riots-4ab7f1e1-1498-433b-8b80-cedf3cc1ae96.html](https://www.axios.com/trump-protests-riots-4ab7f1e1-1498-433b-8b80-cedf3cc1ae96.html) ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43977 "2020-06-01T16:48:11Z")
> [@Win\_Place\_Show](#): > > Do you mind checking your link? I keep getting an error when I click on it, and I am dying to read the rest of that article! 🙂 > > ETA: Nevermind, I was able to do a “manual override” to get it to work, once I quoted your post. > [@74westy](#): > > [https://www.axios.com/trump-protests-riots-4ab7f1e1-1498-433b-8b80-cedf3cc1ae96.html](https://www.axios.com/trump-protests-riots-4ab7f1e1-1498-433b-8b80-cedf3cc1ae96.html) EEK! Thanks, y’all for fixing that. So sorry. ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43978 "2020-06-01T17:48:01Z")
Tom Cotton is suggesting that strikes on American cities from the U.S. Air Force are needed to end the protests. Yeah, that’s not fascist _at all_. These Trump sycophants are getting scarier every day. > ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43979 "2020-06-01T17:53:04Z")
> [@aurora\_maire](#): > > Tom Cotton is suggesting that strikes on American cities from the U.S. Air Force are needed to end the protests. Yeah, that’s not fascist _at all_. These Trump sycophants are getting scarier every > > [https://twitter.com/TomCottonAR/status/1267448171636174848](https://twitter.com/TomCottonAR/status/1267448171636174848) Technically, the 101st Airborne wouldn’t be airstrikes – they’d be paratroopers dropped on US cities. Trump has also said that he’s putting the]Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff “in charge” but as usual, nobody knows exactly what he’s talking about. Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t there a law against using the US military as domestic law enforcement? Posse Comitatus, or something like that? ---
**Author:** ![Skypist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skypist/32/169_2.png) [@Skypist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skypist)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43980 "2020-06-01T18:00:06Z")
He can apparently do it anyway under the Insurrection Act if he wants to despite posse comitatus. Apparently he told governors on a conference call that they’re all a bunch of pansies and they’d better get tuff and start arresting people and the states are on their own. He wants the power to control everything but not actually have to do anything haaaa-aard. ---
**Author:** ![carlb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carlb/32/5930_2.png) [@carlb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlb)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43981 "2020-06-01T18:01:42Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Technically, the 101st Airborne wouldn’t be airstrikes – they’d be paratroopers dropped on US cities. > > Trump has also said that he’s putting the]Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff “in charge” but as usual, nobody knows exactly what he’s talking about. > > Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t there a law against using the US military as domestic law enforcement? Posse Comitatus, or something like that? [Here is a good summary](Here is a good summary) of when the military can be deployed domestically. The author, Steve Vladeck, is a professor at UT Austin and does a lot of work in national security law. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43982 "2020-06-01T18:05:51Z")
**[Trump calls governors ‘weak,’ urges use of force in protests](https://a.msn.com/r/2/BB14T8VC?m=en-us&referrerID=InAppShare)** > [@](#): > > President Trump on Monday berated the nation’s governors on a conference call, describing them as “weak” in the face of growing racial unrest and urging them to try to “dominate” unruly protests, according to three people on the call who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private conversation. > > Trump also called on the governors to take back the streets and use force to confront protesters. He said if they did not, they would look like “fools,” alarming several governors on the call as they communicated privately, according to the officials. > > “If you don’t dominate you’re wasting your time,” Trump said, according to a person on the call. > > Trump told the governors that “you have to use the military” and “we have a wonderful military,” and he mused about the Occupy Wall Street movement and said it was a “disgrace” that was ended by governors and mayors being tough. > The president said that people arrested at the protests should serve 10-year prison sentences, according to another person familiar with the call. > > “It’s like a war. . . . It is a war in a certain sense,” Trump said. “And we will end it fast. Be tough.” > … Right. ☹ Great plan. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43983 "2020-06-01T18:10:03Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t there a law against using the US military as domestic law enforcement? Posse Comitatus, or something like that? Let me explain what the President can do: _Anything he damn well wants to do until he is physically stopped and/or an order is refused_, and the latter only holds up until the person who refused to follow the order is replaced by someone who will. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_McQwark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@Steve\_McQwark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_McQwark)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43984 "2020-06-01T18:11:53Z")
So, the way to stop the protests against the use of excessive force by the police is by having the military use excessive force? Oookaay. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43985 "2020-06-01T18:26:36Z")
> [@Skypist](#): > > Apparently he told governors on a conference call that they’re all a bunch of pansies and they’d better get tuff and start arresting people and the states are on their own. That’s the thing - he wants to look like an alpha male stereotype but doesn’t want to take responsibility. He’s hoping a governor or three will take the hint and publicly ask him to deploy ground units (and not just MPs) on their behalf. That puts the responsibility on the governors and he gets to play Mr Tough Guy on TV. There’s very little chance he’ll call up those military units on his own without some kind of request so there is somebody to blame if it all goes pear-shaped. Why he thinks a governor would ask for something like that is beyond me, but so is a lot of Trump’s 19th level strategery. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43986 "2020-06-01T18:49:33Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > That’s the thing - he wants to look like an alpha male stereotype but doesn’t want to take responsibility. > > He’s hoping a governor or three will take the hint and publicly ask him to deploy ground units (and not just MPs) on their behalf. > > **That puts the responsibility on the governors** and he gets to play Mr Tough Guy on TV. There’s very little chance he’ll call up those military units on his own without some kind of request so there is somebody to blame if it all goes pear-shaped. > > Why he thinks a governor would ask for something like that is beyond me, but so is a lot of Trump’s 19th level strategery. My bold. Eggs-ZACKLY! This is why he has turned over the management of COVID opening-closing-assembly-etc. rules to the governors. So if it all goes pear-shaped, it will be their fault, not his. Nothing is ever his fault. Of course, if all goes well, then he will take all the credit. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=2198) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=2200)